Direction following control of planar snake robots using virtual holonomic constraints

Abstract

This paper investigates the problem of direction following for planar snake robots. The control objective is to regulate the linear velocity vector of the snake robot to a constant reference while guaranteeing boundedness of the system states. The proposed feedback control strategy enforces virtual constraints encoding a lateral undulatory gait, parametrized by states of dynamic compensators used to regulate the orientation and forward speed of the snake robot.